Working with Befriended Creatives – How to Keep Things Cooking Smoothly

Working with befriended creatives can be the best thing in the world. It’s a zone where everything is creative allowed – and appreciation is woven into every nuance of the process.

Still, there are certain factors that should be kept in mind when engaging in creative work with people you love. Respect, obviously, offers a vital bracket around everything you do.

But derived from that, there can be a clear structure of work-related fields that you should stay aware of. These points address the way you communicate with befriended musicians, the way you motivate them or try to work with external deadlines, or just the way you credit their work.

Because we want you to cook up the best of the best with your creative friends, here are some things to think about – and maybe adjust along the way.

Let’s start with communication.

Clear communication

The easiest way to run a friendly work- relationship against the wall, is communicating badly. It really is. Be very aware of the way you communicate – and how.

Especially concerning outside pressures like deadlines or standards to be met.

This also means expressing patiently how you feel, especially if things don’t run as well as planned. Going in early, with enough calmness to even out a rocky situation, is key.

Also – expectations. Talk about expectations, apart from having loads of fun while mid-process. Every professional will appreciate you being honest about certain anxieties, and expressing them will explain your mannerisms, the way you handle things.

No obligations

Not always clear but important to state – non-obligatory work modes.

If you’re working with friends, there should be a sense of shared trust, but no obligation to perform. Obligation can lead to dissatisfaction on both sides.

There’s a huge difference between working in a shared, professional context and obliging to a directive. Make that absolutely clear. Whenever your partner in crime, so do speak, feels that things are not running the way he or she expected, this ought to be discussed.

No use running head to head, especially in a creative process that started off as a shared journey.

Respect workflows

Working with befriended creatives can open corridors to the unknown.

You might know someone quite well, on a friendship level, and then during the work-mode things start to run wild, not quite as expected. Still – try to respect workflows, even though they might diverge from your own.
Be aware that behind every style of handling things, there’s a story of development, growth, change, and transformation. Be patient with your befriended creatives, and maybe even go into the process expecting to be surprised.

You’re less likely to be let down if you expect something new, different, maybe divergent from the way you usually handle things. Stay open.

Credit graciously

This is a no brainer but has to be stressed. When it comes to laying down the credits for a shared piece of work – don’t be stingy. Credit graciously. Some dimensions of a collaboration are hard to measure. Who brought what into the game, which idea led to the next, where did one creative inspire another and so on.

That’s why it’s so incredibly important to be welcoming when it comes to sharing official credit for a given work of art. Also – you don’t want people holding a grudge against you, especially not people that mean a lot to you.

What goes around, comes around.

Open finance handling

Be an open book. At least as open, as you can be, contractually. Let them know what the status of a given production is, where investments have to flow.

The more honest you are, the more reason you give your creative other to return that favor.

Open finance handling is important when working with befriended musicians. It’s not about showboating a lack of resources to handle out a good deal. It’s about making very clear where you’re at, where you’re heading, and seeing if that matches the ideas and expectations of the person working with you.